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MAG and died there on 10th March, 1759. He became doctor of medicine in 1696, and occupied the chair of botany at Montpellier in 1707. His writings were chiefly medical.—J. H. B.  * MAGNUS,, a German painter, born at Berlin, January 7, 1799, studied in the first instance medicine and then philosophy, but eventually turned to painting, and became a pupil of Schlesinger. His first picture was exhibited in 1826. He then went to Rome, where he remained several years. In 1835 he returned to Berlin; in 1837 he was elected a member of the Berlin Academy, and in 1844 professor. Magnus' reputation rests chiefly on his genre pictures and portraits. Of the former many are of Italian peasants, fishermen, &c. His portraits include the royal family of Prussia; Mendelssohn, Jenny Lind, Sontag, and other eminent persons, and are considered to be faithful and characteristic likenesses. Many of his paintings in both classes have been engraved.—J. T—e.  MAGNUS. See.  MAGNUSSEN or MAGNÆUS,, was one of the small band of distinguished historians and archæologists, who flourished during the reigns of Christian V. and Frederick IV. of Denmark. By birth an Icelander, he won for himself an honoured place in Danish literary annals, chiefly by his unwearied industry in collecting a large number of Icelandic manuscripts, which he afterwards bequeathed to the university of Copenhagen. These manuscripts are invaluable, as illustrating ancient Scandinavian history. Arne Magnussen died in 1730.—J. J.  MAGNUSSEN,, a modern Danish author of great eminence, and like the subject of the preceding sketch, a native of Iceland, was born in the year 1781. His literary efforts were chiefly directed to the elucidation of the mythology and Saga-history of the north of Europe, on the former of which themes especially his writings are of much worth and importance. Among them we may specify his edition of the elder Edda, enriched with translation and commentary, published in 1821-23; His "Eddalaere og dens Oprindelse," published in 1826; and his "Priscæ veterum Borealium Mythologiæ Lexicon," or dictionary of the old Scandinavian mythology, published in 1828. The second of these works is the most interesting of the three. It is a treatise on the religion of the ancient Eddas, marked by vast research and wonderful ingenuity, the latter gift being unfortunately too often exercised at the expense of solid judgment and discretion. Such, at least, is our own notion of Magnussen's work, although there are some who, we are well aware, entertain a higher opinion of it as a guide through the mysteries of the old Odinic faith. Of the great ability displayed in the book there cannot be a question; but the fundamental principle of the author is one we decidedly scruple, in its wholeness, to receive. He views the splendid and colossal edifice of the Eddas as a poetic picture and interpretation of the phenomena of external nature, and discovers astronomical and other meanings beneath its varied mystic garniture. Partly correct, no doubt, is this idea; yet surely far deeper significance underlies the Scandinavian, as every other mythological system. He died in 1847.—J. J.  MAGO, a celebrated Carthaginian, son of Hamilcar Barca, and youngest brother of the famous Hannibal. He accompanied that great commander to Italy, and was deputed by him to carry to Carthage the news of the great victory which he had gained at Canute, 216. In the following year he was sent into Spain with a considerable force to the assistance of his brother Hasdrubal; and on the departure of that general to Italy in 208, the chief command of the Carthagenian forces in Spain devolved upon Mago. He gained some successes over the Romans, but was at last totally routed by Scipio at Silpia in 206. He then retired to Gades, and subsequently spent some time in one of the Balearic islands, where the memory of his sojourn there is still preserved in the name of the harbour, Portus Magonis (Port Mahon). In the summer of 205 Mago landed in Liguria and surprised the town of Genoa, where he maintained himself for two years. But in 203 he was defeated with great slaughter by Quintilius Varus, and died shortly after on his voyage to Africa of a wound which he received in the battle.—J. T.  MAGO, a Carthaginian writer on agriculture, of uncertain date. Nothing is known of his life; but his book is spoken of with the highest encomiums by the Latin writers on agriculture, such as Columella, Pliny, and Varro. His work, which was translated both into Latin and Greek, was comprised in twenty-eight books, and embraced all branches of the subject. It is now lost.—G.  MAHMED or MOHAMMED AGHA KHAN, sovereign of Persia, was born at Isferaïn in 1737. He was the second son of Mohammed Hasan-Khan, who reigned over the northern parts of Persia. On the death of his father in 1758, along with four of his brothers, he was taken captive by Kerim-Khan, who ruled over the south of Persia, and by him he was made a eunuch. On the death of Kerim in 1779 he contrived to make his escape and to return to Asterabad, which he took from his brother. Soon after he made himself master of Masanderan, and obliged the governor of Ghilan to acknowledge his supremacy. By Ali Mourad Khan he was deprived of some provinces; but at his death in 1785 he regained all that he had lost, and acquired in addition Khouzistan and Adzerbaïdjan, besides the capitals Teheran and Ispahan. In 1793, on the death of Louthf Ali-Khan, he extended his sway over the whole of Persia. Afterwards he conquered Georgia and Khorassan. In the midst of his ambitious designs he was assassinated in his camp at Choutche, by an officer of his household, on the 14th of May, 1797. Noted for cruelty and avarice, he could not be beloved by his subjects; but his ability and courage made him feared.—D. W. R. <section end="312H" /> <section begin="312I" />MAHMUD I., Sultan of Turkey, was born in August, 1696, and died in December, 1754. He was the eldest son of Mustapha II. He came to the throne unexpectedly in his thirty-fourth year, in consequence of an insurrection of the janissaries. From his previous life the leaders of the revolt may have expected that he would be easily governed; but no sooner was he acknowledged sultan than he ruled literally with the sword, killing the first general of the janissaries with his own hand, and teaching the turbulent soldiery that they had found a master. Before his accession the Turks had been engaged in war with Persia. The war still continued, but was so adverse to the Hourans that they soon lost Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, and Shirvan. Their army was nearly destroyed, and they were compelled to sue for peace from the warlike Nadir Shah. Peace was granted, and the Persian pilgrims obtained the right of going to Mecca without paying tribute. On the other hand the Russians were beginning to consider that if Turkey were not yet the "sick man," some of the possessions of the Porte might be readily seized on; and thus in 1736 the Crimea was overrun and captured by the voracious Muscovites. Austria also joined in the war, but with less success. The Turks once more took courage, and near Kroska, 23d July, 1739, they cut the imperialists to pieces, and opened their trenches before Belgrade. A treaty was made—the treaty of Belgrade—by which the Russians were prohibited from ever placing vessels of war on the Black Sea, and by which the imperialists restored Belgrade. Mahmud died at the age of fifty-eight, and was succeeded by Osman III.—P. E D. <section end="312I" /> <section begin="312Zcontin" />MAHMUD II., Sultan of Turkey, was born on the 20th of July, 1785. His immediate predecessor, an elder brother, Mustapha IV., had deposed in 1807 their uncle Sultan Selim, who had excited discontent by initiating some of those reforms—especially the organization of a military force on the European model—which Mahmud was destined to carry out. During his imprisonment, Selim had his young and studious nephew often with him; and it was from his uncle that Mahmud first learned the maxims of a new policy in the government of Turkey. A change of government, intended to be in the interest of Selim, was effected by a discontented pacha in 1808; but Selim was murdered in prison before he could avail himself of the deposition of Mustapha, and in the July of that year Mahmud was placed upon the throne. The accession of another reforming sultan, determined to carry out Selim's policy, was followed in time by a rebellion of the janissaries, in the name of the deposed Mustapha. Mahmud not only quelled it, but to rid himself of all rival claims he made away with his brother, his brother's son, and such even of Mustapha's wives and concubines as promised to furnish heirs to the throne. This removed but one of the new ruler's difficulties. He had to deal with rebellious pachas, a successful Servian revolution, and a war with Russia, assisted by England. In 1809 he made peace with this country. With 1812, and Napoleon's invasion of Russia, a less sagacious monarch might have persisted in the contest; but Mahmud saw that he was being made a tool of by Napoleon, and he concluded, after a gallant struggle with Russia, the treaty of Bucharest, May, 1812. The result was the reoccupation of Servia by the Turks, and the opportunity given to Mahmud of concentrating himself on the work of external reform and pacification. But scarcely had the rebellious pachas <section end="312Zcontin" />